Obama Read My Mind

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2010
Obama Read My Mind
14
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 7:59am

First, let me say the president's speech last night was excellent. I'm  not one to care much for political speeches, but this one held my interest and inspired me.  He said all the right things AND he said them earnestly.


Not to mention, he must have read my posts here about how much high speed rail is needed in this country. This project is exactly what the US needs in so many ways - jobs, investment opportunities, progessive transportation. I'm not really sure why NC needs a rail line between Raleigh and Charlotte; the line would be better between Atlanta and Jacksonville or New York to DC, but it's a start.


I'm excited, and not just because it was my idea (LOL), but because I  hope it will also excite America as a whole and get us motivated again. This is something we haven't had in this country since the space program, and we desperately need it.


White House to dole out $8 billion in rail grants
AP

 

WASHINGTON – High-speed rail projects in California, Florida and Illinois are among the big winners of $8 billion in grants to be announced Thursday by the White House — the start of what some Democrats tout as a national rail-building program that could rival the interstate highways begun in the Eisenhower era.



Thirteen rail corridors in 31 states received funds. The White House, which supplied a list of the grants to reporters late Wednesday, billed the program as "high-speed rail," but only the California project calls for trains with maximum speeds exceeding the 200 mph achieved by some trains in Europe and Asia.


Some of the money will go toward trains with top speeds of 110 mph, while others — such as the $400 million allotted to Ohio to connect Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati by rail — will go toward trains traveling no faster than 79 mph.


President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are expected to pitch the program as a boost to the economy at a town hall meeting Thursday in Tampa, Fla. A half-dozen Cabinet members and other senior administration officials were scheduled to fan out across the country for rail events Thursday and Friday. The White House said rail projects will create or save thousands of jobs in areas like track laying, manufacturing, planning, engineering and rail maintenance and operations.


Except for Amtrak's Acela line between Boston and Washington, there are no high-speed trains in the U.S. and no domestic high-speed rail industry. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and members of Congress have acknowledged they expect much of the expertise and equipment to be supplied by foreign companies.


Congress set aside the $8 billion as part of the economic recovery plan enacted last year. The money is just a start. Last year, Obama asked Congress in his budget request for an additional $1 billion a year for five years. Congress for this year approved another $2.5 billion that remains to be awarded. And Obama is expected to ask for yet more rail funds when his budget is unveiled next week.


Also, LaHood has hinted that some of the $1.5 billion allotted in the stimulus plan for discretionary transportation projects may go toward high-speed rail.


Japan launched the first high-speed trains in 1964, and France and other European countries followed in the 1980s and 1990s. China has announced plans to expand its high-speed rail system to a network of more than 16,000 miles by the year 2020 and has spent more than $50 billion.


Projects awarded the largest grants include:


• California: $2.3 billion to begin work on an 800-mile-long, high-speed rail line tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego.


• Florida: $1.25 billion to build a rail line connecting Tampa on the West Coast with Orlando in the middle of the state, eventually going south to Miami.


• Illinois-Missouri: $1.1 billion to improve a rail line between Chicago and St. Louis so that trains travel up to 110 mph.


• Wisconsin: $810 million to upgrade and refurbish train stations and install safety equipment on the Madison-to-Milwaukee leg of a line that stretches from Minneapolis to Chicago.


• Washington-Oregon: $590 million to upgrade a rail line from Seattle to Portland, Ore.


• North Carolina: $520 million for projects that will increase top speeds to 90 mph on trains between Raleigh and Charlotte and double the number of round trips.


By spreading the $8 billion among so many states, Obama is ignoring the advice of transportation experts and high-speed rail advocates who said the best way to build continuing political support for the program would be to concentrate on two or three grants large enough to get a high-speed line up and running. Once that happens, they reasoned, other parts of the country would lobby for more money to build their own lines.


"We can't try to touch as many political bases as we can with that money. We have got to do major projects," Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said in a recent interview.


Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., disagreed. "You really have to look at local and regional approaches to create the political will to expand the program," he said.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2007
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 1:28pm

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire........of course you were happy he mentioned high speed rail systems because it was your idea......lol. The timing was brilliant I think. I read about the proposed new rail lines for Ohio in this morning's paper.


I agree with you....I thought his speech was very well done. Well, until I happened to check out Fox Snooze and heard Hannity ripping Obama's butt, chanting and ranting about things he should have said or could have said. Blah, blah, blah. I can't stomach that man.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2007
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 1:41pm

Does that Bohner eat sour grapes for breakfast? Every time they showed him, he had this awful look on his face. I guess he didn't realize the camera was on him or he would have been crying. LOL

I don't know how I feel about the new rail system. Of course, I haven't really made up my mind about the casino's either. I do know we need jobs here.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2007
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 2:10pm

Boehner always has that certain look on his face like he's either extremely constipated or else he is walking around with a penil implant that went wrong. He's an overly paid, overly tanned, poor excuse for a "leader".


He's a jack*ss if you ask me.


Now, getting back to the rail system and casinos......I would love it if we had a high speed rail system....wanna know why friend....? Cause then I could get from my house to the casinos even QUICKER!!! Hell yes I want casinos....beats having to spend my money in Indiana or Illinois or Michigan like I do now. I just hope they offer simulcasts for horse tracks around the country......I do extremely well betting those ponies.....Last fall a group of us went down to Keeneland and I hit a superfecta for $3800......and lost another one on a photo finish that cost me another couple grand.....ugh.


iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2010
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 3:00pm

<<>>


OK, you just made me blow tea out my nose.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2010
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 3:06pm

<<>


You heard it first...right here on In The News.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2007
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 4:14pm

Yep. I loved your idea back then when you suggested the high speed rail system. It sure works in other countries. I can give up listening to radio sports talk shows on my car radio and listen to some tunes on my MP3 player and lay back and let the train take me where I wanna go....sweet!!


Hannity grates on me too. I honestly believe he's the worst of them all.


You get any of that tea on you? haha. Silly. Last time I was in Hotlanta, BTW, it was snowing and about, oh, 10 wind chill factor. I was so glad to get back to warm, rustic Ohio.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2007
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 4:21pm

I could see myself on a train to Cleveland to catch a game;)

I gotta tell ya, I am so sick of this Winter! I'm sick of the snow. And it's going to be a cold couple of days.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 4:40pm

I met Warren Buffet in my late 20's, when I was in banking. He was one of the shrewdest men I've ever met. I always followed his investment strategies. If I saw him dumping certain stocks, I dumped them. If I saw him buying shares of a certain bank, I bought them. It always worked out well



iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2009
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 4:45pm

<>

I've often thought the same thing. It is pretty ridiculous when political ideology stands in the way of anything and everything just out of spite.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2009
Thu, 01-28-2010 - 4:59pm

Well, it looks as if even MSNBC noticed that his speech was "less than factual".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35112718/ns/politics-white_house

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